Baseball isn't dying

There has been a lot of talk recently about the "fact" that baseball is in trouble from a long-term perspective. The argument goes that fewer kids are playing baseball for a variety of reasons. Some say the pace of the game is too slow for today's youth and that faster-moving sports like lacrosse are stepping in to fill the void. Others say that the ubiquity of video games has driven kids away from all sports.

However Forbes' Maury Brown has written a terrific article countering these points. You can read it here. He points out that statistics show youth baseball to be holding participation levels over the past five years. He addresses the argument that if fewer kids play the sport, then they won't grow up to watch it by pointing to the popularity of NASCAR, (how many of raced cars as kids?). He also cites as evidence the fact that nearly ten times as many kids play baseball as play Pop Warner football, but clearly the NFL has astronomical viewership. And, while average attendance at Major League Baseball games might be lower than that of an NFL game, there are ten times as many MLB games over the season which means total attendance in baseball dwarfs all other sports.

So before you sound the alarm for the demise of baseball, grab a cheap ticket and an expensive beer and go to the park for a ball game. You'll find America's pastime to be alive and well.